How to send email from model

[Cathy Shapiro]

Hey you guys,

I saw a previous discussion on the group that said you can't send an
email from the model.
I get an error when I try to use sendEmail() from a function inside
the model.

In the documentation for Object Callbacks though, it mentions
something about sending an email from the model.

So does anyone know how I can send an email from the model?

thanks,
Cathy

[raulriera]

Hey Cathy,

None of the controller specific functions are available in the model,
you should place that sendMail() in your controller for now :(

[Cathy Shapiro]

Hey Raul,

Thanks... am trying that with no luck. Maybe I'm just too tired, and it seems really simple... but I'm missing it!
Here's what I'm trying:

In model, I'm doing a callback in the init method:
<cfset beforeCreate("checkdates")>

Then in the checkdates function in the model I'm trying to send the email from the controller:
<cffunction name="checkdates">   
<cfset this.reconfirmemail()>
</cffunction>

Then in my controller, I have
<cffunction name="reconfirmemail" >
    <cfset sendEmail(to="ca...@flashprodesign.com",from="m...@me.com",
        subject="Reconfirmation Date Change",template="datechangeemail" )>
    </cffunction>

But I get an error that checkdates is not found in the model.
How do I call something in the controller from the model?


thanks,
Cathy

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[Per Djurner]

You can't / shouldn't call the controller from the model.
For now you simply have to recode your app so that the controller is
responsible for sending the email (on its own).

[Per Djurner]

The documentation is incorrect by the way.
We'll get that changed.

[Per Djurner]

One more suggestion for you :)

What you can do is schedule the email to be sent from the callback
instead of actually sending it.
Just put it in a temporary table or something and set up a scheduled
task that sends emails every minute.

[Cathy Shapiro]

Thanks Per...
I guess I really don't understand the MVC architecture well enough and should read more about it.
Shamefully, I did try using a <cfmail> tag in the model and that works.  ;)

[Per Djurner]

Oh, the shame!!
;)

[Andy Bellenie]

Why isn't sendMail() a global function?

[Per Djurner]

Because an email is just a different type of view and should therefore
be handled by the controller.
We could make it a global function anyway though but that would mean a
lot of the underlying functions would have to be made global as well
(functions related to including view templates etc).
This would "pollute" the model with a bunch of (mostly) unrelated functions.

[Cathy Shapiro]

Hey Per,

Searching around online, it looks like you can send an email from the model in Rails.
http://www.robbyonrails.com/articles/2009/11/16/sending-email-controllers-versus-models
It also looks like this is one of those issues that everyone feels very strongly for or against. (see the comments on his blog entry)

I'm not sure that I agree that an email is a view. But I do think programming is sometimes more an art than a science and is therefore open to lots of interpretation.
I see there is an open ticket on it: http://code.google.com/p/cfwheels/issues/detail?id=394&q=email&colspec=ID%20Type%20Status%20Severity%20Milestone%20Owner%20Summary
 
What about this being a plugin? Would love to hear what others think about it. ;)
Cathy